Professional Guide | How to Backup a Windows 7 Computer to an External Hard Drive?

Amy Dennis

Jan 24, 2024 • Filed to: Take Data Backup • Proven solutions

Have you met the same situation as Sarah did? According to the latest data, nearly 80% of computer users have experienced a blue screen or black screen. Some users are knowledgeable and they can solve the problem themself, while others may give up all the files and relaunch a new system. In this case, all your important documents, videos, photos are gone. You feel regretful and swear to back up your system next time.

However, you have no idea of system backup and program backup. Questions come as followed:

Don't be anxious about the questions. You can get your satisfying answers in the article. The article is going to illustrate the importance of a system backup and two relatively great methods for backing up Windows 7. Read forward to conclude which method you prefer.

Why Windows 7 Backup Is Important & What Backup Mthods is Suitable for You?

Before talking about the actual solutions, let’s first discuss why Windows 7 backup is important and why you should never overlook it.

To sum up, the above reasons are why Windows 7 backup is important for you. Obviously, there are lots of ways to backup a Windows computer, and here, I would like to make a comparison between the most popular backup methods for your reference: disk backup and cloud backup.

• Access

Both external hard drive backup and cloud backup can be accessed anywhere and anytime. But the access requirements are different. External hard drive backup does not require a network path to access the files, while cloud backup needs a fluent internet connection. You needn't worry about the uploading and downloading speed if using an external hard drive for backup, but an external hard drive is not that convenient since you need to carry it all the time for access.

Though nowadays, the external hard drive has become more and more portable. Compared with cloud storage, it seems not that convenient. And it is advised you store data not frequently used on the external hard drive and put those frequent-use files on the cloud.

• Security

External hard drive backup is faced with physical damage, logical-error damage, virus attack, loss, etc. While using Cloud backup, like Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, you successfully avoid physical damage, but you confront hacker attacks, who are professional in stealing secrets.

The external hard drive is safer because you are protected from network hackers. you have advised to backup your confidential information on an external hard drive, such as Seagate, WD, Lacia, etc.

• Cost

The cost calculation for external hard drives and cloud storage is different. Cloud storage allows you certain free storage. When your storage volume is over the free amount, it asks you for a subscription charge. comparatively, you make a one-deal payment on a hard drive.

From a long-term perspective, the cost per storage unit for an external hard drive will be cheaper.

Now you must know the differences between external hard drive backup and cloud backup. Choose whichever you like!

The article emphasizes disk backup, you can scroll to read the methods to backup Windows 7 to an external hard drive.

But if you prefer to back up your Windows to the cloud, click the link to access instructions.

Using "Backup and Restore" to Backup Your Window 7 Computer

Windows 7 comes with a built-in "Backup & Restore" feature that will help you back up the entire drive instead of selective files and folders.

Here’s how to back up a computer to an external hard drive on Windows 7 using "Backup & Restore".

Step 1 Press "Window+R" to launch the "Run" window and type "Control Panel" in the search bar. Press "Enter" to go to the Control Panel window.

Step 2 Tap on "System & Maintenance" in the left sidebar and select the "Backup & Restore" option.

Step 3 Click "Set Up Backup" and choose the external hard drive as the location where you want to save the backup.

Step 4 Now, you’ll be asked to choose which files you want to backup. You can either click "Let Windows Choose" allow Windows to automatically choose the files or select the "Let Me Choose" option to manually select them.

Keep in mind that the former option won’t include any files that are formatted with the "FAT file system".

Step 5 If you tap on the "Let Me Choose" option, you’ll be prompted to a new dialog box where you can check drives that you want to include in the backup. Once you’ve selected the right drives/folders, simply click the "Next" button in the bottom-right corner.

Step 6 In the next screen, preview the backup and once you're ready, click the "Save Settings and Run Backup" option.

Step 7 This will initiate the backup process, which will take a few minutes to complete. The time will mainly depend on the overall size of the backup.

Step 8 Once the backup process completes, you’ll see the backup file in your external hard drive.

You must have finished the backup process and find out that you cannot transfer the external windows system to an external hard drive, because you are not able to choose the entire hard disk as the object. Only folders and files are allowed. Hence, the whole process will be a little bit time-consuming.

To remove the limitations, I would like to recommend a useful and convenient tool （for your reference）.

Using AOMEI Backupper to Back up Windows 7 to an External Hard Drive

AOMEI Backupper is one of the most professional backup service providers. It provides different editions that are tailored to meet different user requirements. And I will go on to illustrate AOMEI Backupper key features, from which you can get your benefits.

AOMEI Backupper - Your Almighty Data Backup Steward

• Backup and clone your Windows system, files, disks, and partitions without restrictions.
• Set up an automatic backup or schedule backup to relieve you from backup pressure.
• Restore files, disks, partitions, and system at a specific time point.
• Works with all Windows versions including Windows 7, Windows 8.1, and even the latest Windows 10
• Incrementally back up and save the newest version to free you from storage worry.

Download | Win Buy Now

Download and launch Backupper software to your desktop, and now, follow the step-by-step procedure to back up Windows 7.

Step 1 Switch to the "Backup" tab and click the "System Backup" option.

Step 2 Click "Add" to choose the destination hard drive where you store your backup Windows system.

Step 3 Press the "Start Backup" button to initiate the backup process.

Step 4 Once the process is finished, you can see "the operation has been completed successfully".

So, that’s how to back up a computer to an external hard drive on Windows 7 using AOMEI Backupper. It will take minutes or hours, it depends on how big your system is.

Backup and Restore vs. AOMEI Backupper （Comparison: Windows 7 Built-in Backup Function vs AOMEI Backupper）

Now that you know the two methods to backup data from a PC to an external hard drive, it’s time to choose the one that suits your needs. But since the majority of you might be backing up data for the first time, it may get a bit challenging to pick the right solution. To make your job easier, we’ve compiled a comparison table that contains the key features of both Windows official "Backup & Restore" and AOMEI Backupper.

From the above table, it’s clear that AOMEI Backupper is a better option than the traditional "Backup & Restore" feature due to its extensive functionality. With AOMEI Backupper, you’ll have full control over which files you want to include in the backup, making the entire process less complicated.

Conclusion

A Windows 7 backup will help you a lot in retrieving files after your system has encountered an unexpected crash and lost important data. If you want to keep your data safe as well, simply follow the above-mentioned tricks and back up your files to an external hard drive. It doesn’t matter if you have a Seagate, Western Digital, Lacie, or Dell external hard drive, these tricks will help you get the job done in no time.